Raw Milk Rally to Taunt FDA in Independence Park
By Chris Bentley in Food on Nov 30, 2011 7:20PM
Got civil disobedience?
A group calling themselves the Raw Milk Freedom Riders will journey from the Wisconsin state line with 100 gallons of raw milk and cookies (those, we assume, are baked) to Independence Park next Thursday, hoping to ruffle some FDA feathers.
The “food freedom” advocates, some of whom the Reader’s Mike Sula profiled earlier this year, will sell unpasteurized milk for pennies a glass to Chicago mothers backed by the Farm Food Freedom Coalition.
Activist Mike Kane taunted the FDA in advance of the Dec. 8 rally, which follows an inaugural Raw Milk Freedom Ride from Pennsylvania to the FDA’s headquarters on Nov. 1. That ride elicited a statement from the agency that they would not clamp down on protesters who brought raw milk across state lines for personal use. The Wisconsin-to-Irving Park ride ups the ante by putting a price tag on their moo juice distribution.
Federal law has prohibited the interstate transport of raw milk for human consumption since 1987, a statute contested by congressman Ron Paul. Not surprising, considering activists frame the debate as a fight for their “inalienable right” to free commerce. Many also allege health benefits from drinking unpasteurized milk.
The FDA notes that pasteurization has been used since the 19th century to kill pathogens and prevent the spread of food-borne illness.
State laws vary. Fifteen states, including Wisconsin, prohibit raw milk for human consumption. Illinois only allows farm sales.
Independence Park is located at 3850 W. Irving Park Rd.